I have a theory that has been in development since the first time I went somewhere and had to wait, be it a doctor’s office, a hair salon (yes i said salon), or any other place where your appointment is usually delayed by at least half an hour….or maybe not. You see, most places have the courtesy magazines, televisions, and even children’s toys (which by the way are not nearly as cool as the ones i had when i was that age, whatever age you are thinking) for the customer to enjoy while he/she is waiting for their ‘latest hairstyle’ or root canal, or to get their nails ‘did.’ And as much as I appreciate these little trinkets that give me the visual stimulus I need to get me through the awkward waiting period, they never seem to make the time go faster. Here’s where my theory comes in.

I find that when I bring my own reading material, specifically something that I am really intrigued by and can’t seem to put down, my wait time has never been more than five minutes. Because this was such a crazy phenomenon to me, I decided to do a little experiment. I went to three different places three times: The doctor’s office, the salon, and the airport, with two different items: A novel I was currently reading, and a magazine that i picked up from my house. The control group was not taking anything at all and using one of the visual stimuli at each.

I found that the magazine had no effect on any of the wait times (average wait time was 10 minutes) at any of the destinations. The novel, however, decreased my wait time at both the doctor’s office and the hair salon to an average of three minutes at both, but actually increased at the airport when i was waiting for a friend.

The control group produced an average of 9.75 minutes wait time.

What I realized is that when the wait time applies to myself and when I have a novel in hand, I better my chances of getting my Hep A and B shots or my perm more quickly

SO, all that being said, the next time you head in to get drugged up or dooded up, make sure you have a real page turner with ya.

And let your friend get a cab from the airport.